The Isolated Séance

May 1, 2023
Veering from whimsical humor to dark violence, Westerson imagines one of Sherlock Holmes' Baker Street Irregulars as a grown-up, eager to escape his troubled background and follow in his idol Holmes' footsteps by becoming a private detective. Tim Badger hires a man named Ben Watson to be his Watson and opens his office in one of London's dingiest slums. The detectives' first client is Thomas Brent, who's been accused of murdering his employer, Quinn. Shortly after the duo agree to take Brent's case, they receive a happy shock--Holmes gives them a posh new office and lodgings, money for new clothes, and even a housekeeper. With this helpful leg up, the fledgling detectives are confident they can find out who killed Quinn. But the case is much more complex than they expected, even with occasional help from Holmes. When they do eventually crack it through Holmes-style deduction, they learn a difficult lesson: life can be unfair and doesn't always turn out the way one might expect. Westerson is an imaginative storyteller who brings history, humor, hubris, and humanity to this inventive mystery.

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April 10, 2023
Westerson (Courting Dragons) gets a new series off to a dull start with an entry that lacks the originality in the author’s previous historical mysteries. In 1895, 26-year-old Tim Badger, a former member of Sherlock Holmes’s Baker Street Irregulars, is struggling to make a go of it as a private investigator with his partner, only coincidentally named Benjamin Watson, a Black former chemist’s assistant. Their fortunes change when a murder suspect hires them to clear his name. Servant Thomas Brent is suspected of fatally stabbing his employer, Horace Quinn, in Quinn’s London home during a séance. Quinn was attempting to communicate with his deceased business partner, but during the ceremony, the room went dark and someone used the opportunity to stab Quinn to death. Badger and Watson pursue multiple suspects to exonerate their client, but Westerson doesn’t make the detectives more than stereotypes and fails to suspend disbelief: a veteran Scotland Yarder mistakes a throwing knife for a letter opener; it’s never explained why Holmes let Badger, his ostensible protégé, barely scrape by for five years before suddenly offering to set him and Watson up in a fully staffed home of their own. Sherlockians interested in Holmes-adjacent sleuths would be better served by the superior Enola Holmes series.

June 1, 2023

What happens to Sherlock Holmes's street urchins, the Baker Street Irregulars, when they outgrow their usefulness? Timothy Badger follows in the footsteps of his mentor and becomes a consulting detective. As much as Badger tries, he only occasionally stumbles on a clue, so he partners with Benjamin Watson, a Black man who has turned his hand to a little of everything. They're desperate for a successful case when Holmes sends Thomas Brent to them. Brent was valet to Horace Quinn until the night Quinn held a s�ance in his house. The oil lamp went out, and by the time Brent found a light, Quinn was dead with a knife in his chest. It's a tough case for the duo as they're followed by a determined woman reporter and trace a suspect to a Travellers' camp; while investigating, Badger ends up in jail and has to be bailed out by Holmes. VERDICT The author of the Crispin Guest mysteries writes about Victorian street life and desperation in a pastiche relieved by humor. Suggest Vicki Delany's "Gemma Doyle" series as a read-alike.--Lesa Holstine

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May 15, 2023
A White Sherlock Holmes trainee teams up with a Black man of a scientific bent to solve a murder in Victorian London. Having encouraged former Baker Street Irregular Tim Badger to use his methods to become a successful private detective, Holmes recommends him to a desperate man. Tim, who's looked down on because of his dirt-poor family background, and his partner, Ben Watson, who faces prejudice because of his race, take on the case of a valet accused of murdering his employer at a s�ance and going on the run. Though they're not warmly welcomed at the late Horace Quinn's home, they learn that Quinn was a nasty skinflint disliked by a wide range of people. The only clues are the mention during the s�ance of the letters "A-T-I-C" and some dirt on the windowsill. After Tim is arrested for breaking into Quinn's house, he's rescued by Holmes, who, for reasons of his own, provides the two new detectives with a better place to live, servants, and money for nicer clothes. Even as Tim's nemesis, attractive reporter Ellsie Moira Littleton, considers him a thief and writes less than flattering stories about him, the partners' newly upscale appearances allow them to question more people. It's widely believed that Quinn had a wife and baby who died, but after talking to his lawyer, Tim and Ben, who've been intent on finding the medium who led the s�ance, learn that there's much more to that story. The medium proves elusive, but hotheaded Tim and quietly determined Ben won't quit until they find the truth. An enjoyable Holmes pastiche whose many twists are complemented by pointed social commentary.

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